A Mandeville police officer testified Friday that Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price intervened in a 2006 police investigation by specifically asking the department to reduce charges against a wealthy acquaintance - the co-owner and president of SpeeDee Oil Change.

The testimony contradicted Price's testimony Thursday evening that he had never asked for such a reduction.

The accusations regarding the mayor and police department's actions have come to light during the trial against Gary Copp of Madisonville.

The state attorney general's office alleges that Copp attacked a 42-year-old Mandeville woman on Feb. 22, 2006, throwing her to the ground and then kicking her in the head after an argument at a local bar.

Copp eventually was charged with aggravated second-degree battery, which can carry up to 15 years in prison.

The felony trial began in St. Tammany Judge Peter Garcia's courtroom on Monday.

Police initially charged Copp with simple battery, a misdemeanor that carries imprisonment for not more than six months. The simple battery charge would only have been prosecuted in Mandeville's Mayor Court and does not require a bond.

Unlike a felony, simple battery is "more like a traffic ticket, as soon as he signs it, he is free to leave," Officer Randy Lambert testified.

"We were going to arrest him with aggravated battery, a felony, because he was using an instrument, his shoe, that caused serious bodily injury," Lambert said. "But then the mayor called us and said Copp would come in and give us a statement as long as we gave him a misdemeanor instead."

Lambert said he then was ordered by his supervisors in the department to summon Copp for the lesser charge.

"I told them that this was not the right charge and that this was going to come back and bite us," he testified.

His supervisor, Sergeant David Hurstell, testified in the afternoon that no such conversation with the mayor had occurred.

Under questioning by Assistant Attorney General Emma Devillier, Hurstell said he did "not recall" such conversation.

"That was two years ago," he said.

But on subsequent, persistent questioning by Ralph Capitelli, Hurtsell began to say more clearly that the converstation had not occurred between him and the mayor.

The denial mirrored the mayor and police chief's denial under oath on Thursday evening.

Another officer, Perry Otillio, acknowledged that he too had heard that charges were lowered because the department had received a phone call from the mayor.

Otillio said he would have immediately charged Copp with aggravated second-degree battery.

Devillier acknowledged in court that the testimony was not easy for Lambert or the other officers.

"Is this a good thing for your career, to be in the courtroom today?" Devillier asked him.

"No, ma'am," Lambert responded.

"Why did you decide then to come forward today?" she continued.

"Well, ma'am, when you weigh the option of telling the truth or your career, the truth has to come out," Lambert answered. "But there's a chance I won't be employed next week."

Later in the afternoon, Capitelli called for a mistrial, stating that the inquiries into the Mandeville political and law enforcement community had created a "sideshow" distracting from the main act.

"It is overpowering at this point," he said. "It is now like ignoring the 1,000 pound elephant in the room."

Garcia denied the motion.

Copp is maintaining his innocence. He and his attorneys contend that Rome threatened Copp at the bar and that he acted in self defense because he was fearful for his life.

"I didn't see her as a women at that point. She was just someone adversarial to me," Copp testified. "She was in my face, blowing smoke in my face, and she was nasty."

"I didn't want to hurt the girl, but she left me no choice."

Copp testified that he was so worried for his safety that he pushed Rome away and that she subsequently fell onto a nearby table, hitting her head.

Both parties agree that Rome suffered a fractured skull and bleeding to the brain from the confrontation.

Rome subsequently has lost her short term memory, no longer can smell anything expect dog excrement, cannot concentrate and has constant migraine headaches.

The defense and their medical experts have testified that the skull fracture from hitting the barroom table was a minor injury and that Rome's symptoms are caused by a past history of alcohol abuse.

Rome has testified that she only is an occasional social drinker and that during the night in question she only had up to three glasses of wine and then switched Coke.

Speedee Oil Change has 170 franchises spread out across the United States and Mexico. Copp and a partner founded the company in Metairie in 1980 and the corporate headquarters currently are located in Madisonville.